The National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on National Health Service, Regulations and Coordination on Monday unanimously passed the reconsidered "The Pakistan Psychological Council (Amendment) Bill 2019."

The NA committee met here under the chairmanship of Khalid Hussain Magsi and also unanimously passed three more bills including "The Transplantation of Human Organ and Tissues (Amendment) Bill, 2019, "The Federal Newborn Screening Bill 2019" and "The Cigarettes Printing of Warning Amendment Bill 2019".

The committee while reconsidering "The Pakistan Psychological Council (Amendment) Bill 2019," moved by Riaz Fatyana. After consideration by the Ministry of Law and Justice, the committee unanimously passed the Bill as introduced by the mover.

Moreover, the panel also considered "The Transplantation of Human Organ and Tissues (Amendment) Bill, 2019," moved by MNA Kishwar Zehra. After detailed deliberations on the said legislation, the committee unanimously passed it with amendments.

The committee discussed "The Federal Newborn Screening Bill 2019," which was moved by Nafeesa Inayatyllah Khattak. The ministry agreed in principle to implement the legislation on ICT federal level therefore the committee unanimously passed the bill as introduced.

The committee discussed "The Cigarettes Printing of Warning Amendment Bill 2019". After detailed deliberation on the said legislation, the committee unanimously passed bill as introduced.

MNA Zehra said that the law was brought to stop illegal sale and purchase of human organs while the terms 'uncles' and 'aunts' as donors would create an ambiguity and there was a chance of misuse of the interpretation. The mover of the bill said that the donor would be a close blood relative like son, daughter, sister or brother.

Director General of the Health Ministry told the committee that work on human organs transplantation needs to be done on national level because matching of tissues in this surgery is very important. He said that the life of human organ in some cases was only 72 hours.

The members also expressed serious concerns over the government's failure to control the dengue which has killed hundreds of people and affected thousands countrywide. They said that improving the health and education sectors is basic promise of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) election manifesto but after coming into power, Prime Minister Imran Khan significantly cut budgetary allocations for both the sectors.

The committee appreciated the efforts of the National Institute of Health (NIH) to fulfill the requirement of 1,000,000 vaccines on daily basis all over the country. The Executive Director NIH further briefed the committee about the production of vaccines of different diseases as per requirement in the country.

The committee directed the secretary National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination to investigate the matter of charging heavy fine on students by St Jeremian Institute of Nursing and try to resolve the matter with mutual consent as soon as possible.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019